The Washtenaw Health Initiative (WHI) is a voluntary collaboration between more than 200 individual and organizational stakeholders dedicated to improving the health of low-income, uninsured, and under-insured populations across Washtenaw County, Michigan.

Co-sponsored by Michigan Medicine and the St. Joseph Mercy Health System and supported by the Center for Health and Research Transformation (CHRT), the Washtenaw Health Initiative helps members and stakeholders work together, within established WHI principles, to:

• Improve coordination across providers and integrate health and human services locally;
• Support community-wide efforts to improve care and services for mental health, substance use, and other health issues impacting vulnerable populations;
• Strengthen community-wide efforts to improve health equity by working closely with the Washtenaw County Health Department;
• Increase insurance coverage among uninsured individuals and help those with Medicaid and Marketplace health plans maintain their coverage, use it more effectively, and find access to care;
• Help local and regional health agencies reduce service redundancies and use resources more efficiently and effectively;
• Connect community resources to health care organizations and to each other; and
• Explore opportunities to partner with Livingston County health and human service organizations.

WHI also governs the state’s Livingston/Washtenaw County Community Health Innovation Region (CHIR), which addresses the social determinants of health, as well as a series of active work groups structured around other pressing community health needs.